The Knuckleheads of the Day award

Today's winners are Daryl Manning President of the Westchase Homeowners Association and the rest of the HOA's board members. They voted unanimously to fine Stacey Kelley $100 a day for a sign she placed on her property supporting her husband who is in Iraq.

What a bunch of insensitive knuckleheads. They don't even see the irony of David Kelley bravely serving in Iraq defending the rights of people like them to fine his wife for supporting him. I live in a development with a HOA and can tell you, rules are NEVER totally enforced. Manning and his co-horts are coming off as the fools they are.

For penalizing the family of a soldier serving in Iraq, Daryl Manning and the Westchase HOA are today's Knuckleheads of the Day.

Hat tip- Stuck on Stupid
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TAMPA - The board offered to move the patriotic tribute to her husband to a more prominent spot in the Westchase community.

Stacey Kelley said no, she had promised him it would stay in her yard while he was in Iraq even though she recently learned it violated deed restrictions.

Members said they could encourage Westchase residents to send care packages to David Kelley if she would simply take down the sign.

Again, Stacey Kelley balked. She said she already sends weekly care packages to her husband and 57 other soldiers stationed in war-torn Iraq.

When told her refusal to take down the 2-foot sign would result in a fine of $100 a day, Kelley, a normally quiet Army wife not used to the national and even international spotlight, had a simple message for the homeowners association directors.

"Bring it on," she said.

To the 24-year-old who watched her husband leave in November, it was about keeping a promise.

David Kelley had asked her to post a "Support Our Troops" sign in front of their house in Westchase in northwest Hillsborough County. She put up the sign in December, and it wasn't until last month that she got a letter telling her the sign had to go.

Westchase deed restrictions prohibit residents from posting signs in front of their homes unless they are "for sale" or "for rent" notices. Exceptions are made for signs from home security companies.

The association's board of directors voted unanimously Thursday night for the sign's removal despite being barraged by scores of negative telephone calls and e-mails earlier in the day.

Kelley appealed to the association, asking it to make an exception to the rule and allow her sign to stay. Wearing an Army T-shirt and carrying a bag covered with photographs of her husband in uniform, Kelley said she has to keep the sign to make sure people remember his sacrifice.

Her husband "feels, and his unit feels, people are forgetting," she said.

Board President Daryl Manning, an Army reservist who also served in Iraq, told Kelley the community does support the troops. But she has to follow the same rules as other residents, he said.

"You open this Pandora's box, and there's no saying what we'll end up with," Manning said.

According to the association's violation procedures, it will be about a month before the fines are levied.